Earn, Save, Spend… It's All About Money

Entries Tagged as 'Gifts'

We all get them from time to time – unwanted gifts – things that we already have, things that we don’t want, things that don’t fit, or quite simply do not like. A careless cousin, a well meaning aunt, a misguided friend or colleague may all have been guilty of presenting you with that unwanted gift. So what do you do with it?

Re-gift

The obvious thing to do of course is recycle unwanted gifts. The purple angora sweater may not be to your liking, but it may be just the thing that will gladden the heart of your aging aunt. Here’s a caveat though – give some thought to the gifting. If you think someone was thoughtless in giving you a gift, don’t be thoughtless in return. Even if you really just want to get rid of something, be reasonably sure that the receiver will appreciate it.

Donate

You can give away the gifts to a local shelter or your charity of choice. If you have no idea where you can donate your unwanted gifts, check out The Giving Effect. You can send them clothes, books, food, cleaning supplies, cameras, spares, baby items, gadgets, accessories and they ensure that these things reach people who really need them.

Every so often you come across someone who seems to have everything. Or there is that other person who is really difficult to buy a gift for since they are generally difficult to please. So what do you get these people? Well get them something that tickles the funny bone – a fun, funky gift that may not be strictly useful, but which is guaranteed to raise a few laughs – and a gift that raises a few laughs is a good gift right? Right!

OK so here’s a slightly rude foot mat; the anti-welcome mat if you will. This doormat says “Come back with a Warrant”, as against the traditional welcome legend. And there are plenty of other funny ideas for foot mats: “Wow! Nice Underwear” says one; another simply says “Go Away”, then there is one that has a gun pointing at you and the words “If you can read this sign, you’re in range!” and there is one that says all this: “Please stay on the mat. Your visit is important to us; your knock will be answered in the order which it was received” Hilarious! [Read more →]

The season to be merry is almost upon us – are you dreading it or looking forward to it? For me it’s a little bit of both: I love buying everyone gifts but I hate what it does to my bank balance. So if you’re heading to the shops (in case you missed the Black Friday and Cyber Monday frenzy) you may find these tips useful:

Consider your list of gift recipients. Try and pare it down to those people who do really mean something to you. Do you really need to give a gift to that neighbor or that acquaintance at work? Make a list of who you need gifts for and then stick to it. Make sure you’re “makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice”.

Think of the recipient. What do they need? What will they appreciate. Don’t just get something because it looks good or is expensive. Many of your friends may appreciate something handmade (are you a dab hand at making preserves, at embroidery, carpentry and so on?)

Take along a friend. Some of us simply love shopping; on the other hand some of us simply don’t. To make shopping seem less of a chore, take a good friend along.

Prepare for it. Make sure you’re not hungry, tired or stressed when you set out for shopping. Wear comfortable shoes. Also prepare an address list of people you will be shipping gifts to, and take it with you to the shops. Some shops may do your shipping for you. [Read more →]

Whether you are single or in a relationship, it is a good idea to make any day special with gifts or treats – either for yourself or for a loved one. This is about showing that you care for anyone: a friend, a parent, a sibling or even a grandparent. Here are some ideas to help you make any random day special:

Treat yourself to the spa – Getting a pampering at the spa… it doesn’t get better than that! Treat yourself to a massage, a beauty treatment, a body wrap, or anything that your heart desires. Now if a spa treat is a bit out of your budget, think of a DIY spa treatment at home with your fave bath salts, great music, some wine perhaps followed by a great film! And it doesn’t have to be something that you do with anyone else (though you can take along your significant other), in my view however, pampering is best done alone!

Go ice skating – You can hold hands with your special person, have a race with a friend or just go by yourself, perhaps meeting someone interesting in the bargain!

All of us except the most correct and stiff upper lipped have indulged in a little re-gifting from time to time – it is only prudent and a wise utilization of resources to do so in my humble opinion. After all what is one man’s junk is another’s treasure and what do you do with two beautiful but identical Hermes scarves! Re gifting is not just economical it is also eco friendly because a form of recycling after all; which is good, right?

Now that we’ve established that there are enough excuses for guilt-free re gifting, here are some re-gifting dos and don’ts:

Check the manufacturing date. Food items have an expiration date, and so, in a sense do electronics and gadgets which get outdated so very quickly. You certainly don’t want the recipient to know that your re-gift was lying around your closet or pantry for a while before nestling into the folds of wrapping paper. [Read more →]

Clothing, accessories, jewelry, watches, perfumes, wine, chocolates and such items are de rigueur for the holidays and are some of the first things that pop into your mind when you think of gifting options. Some people however are difficult to get gifts for – either because they are generally picky or because they seem to have everything, you may really have to wrack your brains for what to get them.

Here are some unusual gifting ideas for the quirky or the difficult to please individuals in your life:

A Piggy Bank that doubles as a décor piece. This can actually be a practical gift for a kid to teach them the rudiments of savings and can also be something that they will happily display on their desk.

The adult version of this gift above would be a savings account that you open for someone near and dear to you. You can make the initial deposit into that account and help your friend or relative develop a habit that is pocket friendly. Makes a lot of sense in these lean times. [Read more →]

It could be the single people find the whole brouhaha surrounding Valentine’s Day a wee bit nauseating, the in your face displays of love and affection rather too smug to take – so whether as a joke or as a mutinous reaction to Valentine Day, someone came up with Singles Awareness Day (acronym SAD, so it must be someone’s idea of ironic wit) – there is some difference of opinion whether it is celebrated on 13th, 14th or 15th of February, but celebrated it is!

So the idea is that if people will send their ‘better halves’ all manner of mawkish gifts, then there is no reason why single people shouldn’t send themselves a gift of two as well! Getting together for a singles party, getting some pampering from a spa or similar, going for a holiday, doing something meaningful like volunteering to help with or donate to a charity can all be terrific ideas for Singles Awareness Day and equally, one can treat oneself to the following gifts –

There is no particular season for gifting, and a piece of jewelry, or some new tableware is always welcome. As are handbags and shoes. This Christmas and New Year time, for a change, I got plenty of perfumes. Enough to last me through the year.

Our sense of smell can be very evocative, and can take us back to a time and place in the past or can remind us of a particular happening or person. This makes them a very important part of the whole process of dressing; more particularly dressing up! I don’t feel ready to go out until I not only look but also smell good!

Amongst my gifts were a limited edition Burberry, a Paco Rabanne, a Gucci and an Issey Miyake. I thought of doing some research into what goes into making a great perfume, one that not only smells divine, but also lasts really long. I learnt that a lot goes into creating and buying fragrances, atleast the really good ones. There are various layers to every scent, different ways of applying it depending on the effect you desire, and numerous fragrance families. It truly is a science and an art both!

We got a new neighbor recently – and the new people who moved in next door seemed rather nice so I wanted to start things out on the right foot by giving a nice welcome to the neighborhood kind of gift to them. If I were one of the ladies in Desperate Housewives doubtless I would cook up a storm and hand-deliver a hearty casserole or scrumptious homemade cookies in a pretty basket, but I am not so I didn’t. instead I thought of these welcome to the neighborhood ideas for a housewarming gift –

Now I like to keep a nice garden and would like it if my neighbor did the same. So for rather selfish reasons, I thought a garden gift basket such as this one would be a good idea. It includes a hand painted metal planter, a pair of cotton gardening gloves, Banana Boat sunscreen, and assortment of flower seed packets, a stainless steel spade and trowel, and key lime cookies. Not bad for $57 and free shipping.

I have a need to get a gift, a gift for a senior person in my life, and senior gifts are a bit tricky. They have to be useful and appropriate but also have to be ‘not obvious’. Time and attention are the best gifts, but failing those two you have to think of something concrete to give which is something other than a gift certificate (gift certificates I think are a kind of announcement that I don’t have the time or the imagination to pick out something nice for you). So I have been thinking a lot and have come down to some of these possible options:

As one grows older, their circulation tends to become poorer and they tend to feel the cold more. Feet in particular tend to get icy and I though this electric foot warming pad was great, particularly at the price of 39.99 which is down from $59.99. So gifting toasty warm feet I thought was a great idea.